UA Series to Explore Voices for Peace During Times of War

The free lectures, beginning July 29, are designed to explore issues from the 16th and 17th centuries that resonate with a present-day audience.

Rebecca Ruiz McGill

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University Communications

July 25, 2012

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War has played a significant role in the history and consciousness of mankind, and this year, during the annual Late Medieval and Reformation Studies' summer lecture series, voices advocating for peace in the war-torn 16th and 17th centuries will come to life through the research of University of Arizona faculty members and students.

The free lectures in the “Voices for Peace in a War-Filled Age” series will be held at the St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church each Sunday through Aug. 19, beginning July 29 at 10:15 a.m.

Regents’ Professor of History Susan Karant-Nunn, director of the division, said, “The audience for the summer lecture series has become quite large, and each year we try to select a unifying subject that we think will have broad appeal in presenting aspects of the early modern European past.”

“The reality is that in Europe in the late medieval and early modern period, war was frequent, and the idea that civilized people should not torture or slaughter one another was rarely heard. So in ‘Voices for Peace,’ we explored the voices of a few individuals who from centuries past expressed their skepticism toward war as an acceptable undertaking for people of faith.”

A lecture by Amy Newhouse, a doctoral student, will kick off the series this Sunday with a discussion on the Renaissance era classical scholar Erasmus and early pacifism.

The series continues on Aug. 5 with “Neither Wolves, Tigers, nor Mastiffs: Quakers and War in the Early Modern Period,” a lecture by master’s student Patrick Meeks. On Aug. 12, Adam Hough, a doctoral student, will present the lecture, “Thou Shalt Not Kill!: Anabaptist Pacifism in an Age of Warfare.”

Ending the series on Aug. 19 will be Karant-Nunn, who will speak on the early voices against torture.

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